Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Book Review: Lady Susan by Jane Austen

When the book club informally decided to "catch up" on Jane Austen books this month, I decided since I've read the big six (some several times) I would read a couple of the small more obscure titles... such as this one, Lady Susan.

It's a very small book written in letter form. So many letter writers, in fact, that I had a hard time following who was who and what they had to do with each other, but I finally caught on!

The plot is a simple one. Lady Susan is a bit of a trampy lady who wants to marry this young dude, even though she is first, newly widowed, and second, seeing another guy (who happens to be already married.) The letters are between the sister of this young guy and her mom, wherein she laments this Lady Susan intruding on their lives and fears for the well being of her brother.

Also, we see the true mind set of Lady Susan as she writes to her equally trampy friend to let her know how all the scheming is going.

In the middle of it all is a sweet young girl, Lady Susan's daughter, who actually loves the young fellow herself. So she is competition with her mom... and a mom that hates her at that!

So how will it all end up? Read it to find out!

As I said, I had a hard time following, but about half way through it clicked in and I found myself a bit intrigued. However, then the story is just dropped and she wraps everyone up quickly and bam, it's over. There could have been so much more!! I felt let down and disappointed!

However, she was just learning this writing craft after all. She was just 19 years old when it was written. And I doubt she ever had plans for it to see the light of day.

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I read. I blog. I write. I listen to music and watch TV. I haul kids all over the place, and do homework and make dinner and wash clothes. I work at the library a few hours a week. Sometimes I clean stuff, but only if I have to. Co-host of Bloggiesta and Utah Book Month.

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Wow, what a ride. When an invisible barrier suddenly descends on this small town, how will the people handle things? Let's just say... not very well! Would it be giving away too much if I say... pretty much EVERYONE dies! And all written in...